Reaping new wealth from natural resources in northern Wisconsin

Wisconsin State Roundup

The natural resource-rich northern part of the state is beginning
to harvest the wealth of those resources in a new way. The Wisconsin
Department of Revenue recently announced statewide property valuations
showing that the state as a whole experienced its single largest
increase$20 billionever recorded.

About a third of the state's counties experienced double-digit
valuation growth, at least eight of which are northwestern counties
located in the Ninth District, including Burnett County, whose 20
percent increase was tops in the state. A Department of Revenue
spokesperson attributed the increase in northern counties to demand
for vacation homes during a strong economy.

Even more impressive is that these figures include the first year
of phase-in for farmland valuation based on actual use rather than
market potential. As a result, farmland property values across the
state dropped by about one-third over 1999 valuations.